2 Maccabees 8:1-3

New Catholic Bible

Liberation of the Holy City and the Temple

Chapter 8

Judas Maccabeus Conducts Guerrilla Warfare. ¹ Meanwhile, Judas, who was also called Maccabeus, secretly entered the villages with his companions and enlisted in their ranks their kindred as well as others who had remained faithful to Judaism.^[a] Having assembled a force of about six thousand, ² they implored the Lord to look with favor on his people who were being oppressed on all sides; to have pity on the temple that was being profaned by godless people; ³ to have mercy on the city that was being destroyed and about to be leveled to the ground; to hearken to the blood that cried out to him;